Overlord (Not!)
Fate Voidborn
A/N: this story is a spinoff of my other fanfic "Overlord Not!" following Ethteris on her journey through the Nasu-verse after Yggdrasil's shutdown.
Sorry it took so long, the reason for this chapter to come out is due to my indecision on the caster servant I wanted to use for this fanfic, and I had to rewrite a lot of the contents over and over. Also, I had other stories to write, and I was procrastinating HARD on this fanfic.
'Think.'
"Speak."
[Message/Notification]
Chapter: 1. Steal the egg while the dragon is away.
[Kayneth's side of thing]
Sitting in a makeshift base in an abandoned underground garage, Kayneth El-Melloi was frustrated with his current circumstances.
[Flash back]
When Kayneth left the airport. He felt himself under Constance surveillance by an unknown party. From what intelligence he gathered, it could be that goddammed mage-killer Kiritsugu already aiming for his head before the grail-war even started. If the mage-killer attacked him now then by the rules of the overseeing church, Kiritsugu would be disqualified to participate in the war. It can also be Assassin stalking him. Kayneth didn't know which was worse. The assassin's master can always claim that the servant went rogue after his throat is slit. This brought him on edge. From all what he knew, the mage-killer is a cut-throat that would do something like this.
The message was clear. Someone didn't want to fight honorably and decided to assassinate him. Kayneth could think of a few individuals that would want him dead. Said person is- or probably someone in cahoots with Kiritsugu or assassin's master. He will need to investigate once he's in a safe location.
Ever since then, Kayneth had been trying to shake off his stalkers to no avail. To think he would be targeted before he even summoned his servant was both frustrating and a compliment to the threat he poses to the other candidates in this war.
[flash back ended]
At last, by sheer luck. He managed to find this abandoned garage on the outskirts of Fuyuki-city. He had been stalked across the entire city ever since he arrived in Fuyuki. From the persistency of his 'stalker', it had a good chance to be assassin. He originally planned to let his summoned servant fight his battles, while he himself sat back in his hotel. But with the constant stalking from his unknown pursuers, he had to improvise and sacrifice numerous mystic-codes to shake off his stalkers. Even so, Kayneth just couldn't shake off the feeling that something was keeping an eye on him from the shadows.
[Kiritsugu's side of things]
His target, Kayneth El-Melloi was nowhere to be found. Kayneth never checked in the hotel he booked and was instead on the move around the city ever since he arrived in Fuyuki.
Now his target is off the radar and Kiritsugu has no lead on Kayneth's current location. The mage-killer took another whiff of his tabaco to calm himself. From the intel he gathered, Kayneth isn't the type of person to use misdirection and instead is someone who would display his prowess and talent for others to see.
Breathing out a cloud of smoke, the contract-killer needed to improvise on his plans. For now, he will have to wait until Kayneth makes an appearance.
[Ethteris's PoV]
When the light had dimmed, and the smoke had cleared. There was a silver haired world class beauty standing in the summoning circle. Hidden behind a veil, Ice-blue eyes gazed at her summoner exuding an unspoken inquisitiveness. "I ask, are thee my master?" She spoke in a seemingly very old accent. Not unexpected from a heroic spirit.
"Greeting, I am Esmée Laurent. Your master in this Holy grail war. Hope we can get along." I gave my best acting smile I mastered. Esmée Laurent is the alias I use in this world as a transfer student while in my time in the clock tower.
"Thou are not human nor fairy. What art thee?" she asked apprehensively in her emotionless yet melodic voice. I smiled. "It seems like the cat is out of the bag. Very well then…," I let my sense of drama flair up. "… But before I answer your question. Isn't it rude not to introduce oneself first?" I teased. I had a faint idea of who the pale-haired caster could be yet would like to confirm my guess. The servants huffed with some annoyance. I probably struck a nerve. "I am Morgan Le Fay, rightful ruler of Camelot." My guess was right. She does look like Arthoria. I am vaguely familiar with her legend due to one of my halves (Ethteris the accursed) based my in-game after her and the other (Voidlord Ethteris) based her build after Arthur in a berserk state. My lore said that both Ethteris the accursed and Voidlord Ethteris are the same person. And it's doubly true since I left the ruined world. both my in-game avatars have merged into one and their stats have stacked together.
"Now, answer me. what are you?" Morgan's patience seems to be running thin. "sigh" my demeanor became serious. "I am Not from this world." As expected, my answers caught the Witch off guard. "I am what is known as a Voidborn. Spawned from the depth of the void where infinite possibilities reside dormant. Molded out of the hollowed nothingness the antifascist of existence, I walk the plains. This body you see before me is merely a shell that is vessel to my true form." I let my aura of corrosion flair out for a short moment before deactivating it. Just as I expected, my servant was speechless for a moment and was trying to digest the information. On the other hand, my undead wiseman looked at me with reverence.
"Does this answer your question miss Morgan?" Before Morgan could muster up a response, I asked. I addressed her with miss as a sign that I see her as my subordinate. I gave her a challenging stare. Inwardly I'm prepared for a verbal battle. Unlike Waver, who gets dragged around by his servant left and right. I will be the one calling the shots. I let my intent for control show by looking Morgan straight in the eyes unblinking. Not that I need to blink in the first place.
A moment of staring later, the witch of Camelot seems to relent her gaze for some reason. To my disappointment, she did not rise to my unspoken challenge.
[Morgan's PoV]
The first thing I noticed is the fact that my master didn't use a catalyst to summon me. That indicates that I was summoned due to my master being similar to me in some way or form in personality or back story. Yet she is different from me. It is unsettling. From the sheer amount of mana, I receive through our link to my master's shrouded nature, I could tell that she is less of a magus and more a monster in human skin. I would've called her a dead apostle by instinct, but the feeling she gave off is unlike that of a dead apostle. It is closer to that of the more monstrous beings amongst the Fae realm, malevolent in its nature.
"Greeting, I am Esmée Laurent. Your master in this Holy grail war. Hope we can get along."
Her cheerful attitude caught me off guard, yet my pride as a ruler refused to show my inner thoughts. The way she had with her words reminded me of that insufferable merlin. "Thou are not human nor fairy. What art thee?" I needed to know what kind of phantasmal creature is able to summon me by compatibility alone.
Her answer is not what I expected. It makes sense now that she is not from this world, but a "Voidborn"? is she referencing the root? It makes little sense…
"Does this answer your question miss Morgan?" I had to restrain my eyes from twitching at the casual manner she addresses me. Then I noticed the way she stared into my eyes. Her gaze was unrelenting, determined, and uncompromising. The attitude of a ruler. She is the kind of being that will not compromise when it comes to her goals and will fight tooth and nail for every bit of control. I am sure that she can make my time during this grail war a living hell if I start to bicker with her. From what I learned so far, she is someone that would resort to drastic measures in a heartbeat if it suited her and had no intention of relinquishing any of her control.
[3rd person PoV]
"What is master's wish upon the holy grail? If I may inquire." Morgan asked to test the waters. She had no delusions that her master would ask for a pathway into the root or learn true magic. This made her curious about her master's motives for partaking in the holy grail war. yet her answer was as expected to be unexpected.
"Fu, fu, fu, fu." the so-called Esmée Laurent let out a mirthless chuckle. This caused the queen of Avalon to twitch her eyebrow in annoyance at her antics for drama. Morgan felt that she was dealing with one of those annoying aristocrats back when she was still alive.
"The Grail is corrupted. It is nothing but a Monkey's paw for the fools at this point. it is only a matter of time until it's unleashed and this city will be nothing more than another chapter in history." Esmée's face looked apathetic, like she was talking about the weather. Morgan on the other hand had disbelief written all over her face. "Impossible...-" she wanted to refuse her master's claim.
Disregarding her servants' protest, Esmée held out her hand. "Listen!" Her master used one of her command seals to force Morgan to listen. there was a sign of slight irritation shown on the Voidborn's face. "I don't have the luxury to argue about possibilities, fact is the grail is unusable. As I was saying, the price in this war is basically useless for anyone's wish to come true. that's why we will not go after the cursed cup." Esmée said in a matter of factly. The queen of Avalon narrowed her eyes while fuming at the Voidborn's nonchalant use of the command seal to make her forcefully listen.
"Then why participate in this so-call pointless war?" Morgan's tone was clearly dripping with sarcasm. Esmée didn't reply immediately. "Benefit". Morgan gave Esmée a deadpanned look.
"First, we leave this place." The Voidborn stated. Turning towards the undead wiseman. The lich looked up at his mistress. "Dispose of the traces after we left then wait for further orders at the sewer base." Esmée gave an order. "Yes mistress." The skeleton answered.
"[Gate]" A large spiraling vortex appeared in the dim-lit room. "Let's go." The voidborn addressed the witch before stepping into the portal. Morgan would be more surprised to see a magus casually summoned a portal, then she remembered that she is dealing with a phantasmal creature not from this world. reluctantly the Queen of Avalon followed.
[A day later]
[Germany]
Looking down at the Einzbern castle in the middle of the snowy lands. Ethteris was currently going through every possible raid scenario in her head.
From the reports of the Hanzo unit assigned to observe Irisviel and saber. It seems that both had departed via private plane towards Fuyuki already. And they left poor little Illya in the "caring" hands of the "benevolent" Einzbern family. A "good deed" that must be fixed. From [widen magic: life detection] and [Remote Viewing], the player had already located every member of Einzbern family inside the whitewashed castle and the Hanzo units are already in position to execute their given orders.
"[Body of Effulgent Beryl], [Body of Effulgent feather], [Veil of Charm], [Energy Immunity – Electricity], [Greater Luck], [delay magic/widen magic: Mass hold species]." With her spell casted, Ethteris deactivated her [Fly] spell and fell towards the center of the Einzbern castle like a boulder.
"Plang!" the sound of the castle's bounded field breaking like window glass under the Ethteris's passive magic-resistance Lvl VII. The sound of breaking glass echoed throughout half of the castle. Voidborn crashed right throw the bounded field of the castle and proceeded to crash down into the room of the building. "BBOOOMM!"
A white-haired old man, he is the patriarch of the Einzbern family was shocked out of his preparation of preparing the next vessel for the holy grail. The half Homunculus was currently in her room. He would've called her for the modification before the sun went down today. Before he could react to the potential intruder, his body felt as if a tremendous force had nailed him in place. Then two cloaked figures jumped out from his blind spot and apprehended him to the ground, then they took out what seemed like cuffs and put them on his wrists behind his back. The elderly man felt his connection to his magic cut off like a butcher severing the meat from the bones. It all happened within seconds, leaving the patriarch no time to react to his unknown assailants. Then he was dragged out of his room like a sack of potatoes.
[Ethteris PoV]
Disarming the defensive of the Einzbern Castle without bloodshed isn't as hard as she first thought, yet it isn't easy either. Using [Perfect unknowable] to sneak through the castle and casting [Eternal dreams] (a higher version of the [Sleep] spell) on every passerby is really a shore. Casting another [Detect Life] the Voidborn counted the number of individuals she still needed to send into dream land. "32 down, and 27 left to go." Ethteris hummed to herself. Despite the poor quality of the homunculus of Einzbern in comparison to the ones back in Yggdrasil. She couldn't deny that they didn't look bad. The white hair and the red eyes remind the player of white rabbits. Cutie and fluffy. And it just happened that her next victim is a homunculus maid with delicate looking features and wavy short hair. Approaching the unsuspecting maid, Ethteris reached into her inventory and took out a pair of bunny ears. "Sweet dreams, my little white bunny." Those were the last words the unsuspecting maid heard before sleep claimed her.
[Line break]
Inside the castle dungeons the patriarch of the Einzbern family came back to his senses. He was strapped/binded/gagged/cuffed and chained to a stone-cold ritual table, the same table that he planned to use for the modifying of the next vessel for the grail. The situation was ironic. He, who supposed to provide the empty grail for the grail war was in the position of said object.
"Hey, you! you're finally awake." He looked to his left and saw a figure in a large leathery trench coat wearing a plague Doctor mask. "You were trying to cross the border, walked right into that crusaders ambush. same as us and that witch over there." The plague Doctor pointed to his right. there was a pale haired woman with ice blue eyes looking unamused. "You really think he would believe this nonsense you are putting together?" the woman deadpanned. The plague Doctor simply scoffed in indignation. "I like it. Besides, I need my daily dose of dopamine." The woman's only reply was to pinch her temple and sigh at the antics of her associate. Looking at the frustrated woman, the old man noticed a few similarities to a certain servant that was summoned not long ago. Before the bounded man could put two and two together in his panicked state of mind, the plague doctor rested one hand on his forehead and spoke. "[Control Amnesia]" The soon as those words were spoken, the patriarch of the Einzbern fell into a final slumber. "Now, let's see what secrets you hoard in that skull of yours, old man." Ethteris had a wicked smile under her plague doctor, immersed in her villain persona. Morgan on the other hand just observed impassively at how her master used tier magic. She was tasked to observe the process in order to find flaws in her master's work and correct them if she noticed any imperfections. From what she saw so far, the spell [Control Amnesia] alters memory on a conceptual level, thus requiring a massive amount of mana to perform.
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A/N: sorry it took so long. I was originally planning to release this chapter earlier, but I ran into A LOT of issues when I was writing the interaction between morgan and Ethteris. My understanding of Morgan's character is a bit lacking, yet I wagered my options and at last morgan is the best for the role.
Special thanks to Volfido and 123ABIR123 for your reviews.
Omake I:
When the smock cleared, there was a tan skinned man with messy white hair tied into a braid hanging down from his shoulder like the ends of a scarf the clothing he wore looked akin to the ones back in Yggdrasil. I blinked once, I blinked twice out of habit. The summoning was successful, and I was able to summon a caster class servant. But that was not the reason for my hesitation. 'Did I summon a player? His gear looks way too fancy for a mage. And not to mention his physic, almost 180 cm and broad shoulders like a swimmer. Yes, this is stereotypical for Yggdrasil mage physical standards.' I thought to myself and nodded inwardly.
Unbeknownst to the player, Solomon had the urge to sweat drop.
Void race Facts:
Just like many undead races, Void races are unable to use normal food buffs. The only consumable-buffing items they can use are those with negative effects. Such as health restoring items that debuffs them or Buffing items that diminishes their HP or stats of it's duration. Ethteris was able to disable this game mechanic before shutdown.